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Happy Halloween!

This month, Halloweentober, has been fantastic, fun, wonderful and just lovely. Without doubt Halloween, and October in general, have become my favorite time/holiday. I'm a lifelong Halloween fan but as I get older my love for this ancient holiday just continues to grow. I spent nearly every evening reading Halloween-centric books or watching movies or TV shows about All Hollow's Eve. On more than one occasion I carved pumpkins into traditional jack-o'-lanterns to ward off evil spirits. I spent time fashioning a rustic witches broom from a fallen branch from the back yard tree.

I spent some time writing my Halloween short stories notes. Eventually I'll have to stop writing notes and begin the stories themselves. Ideally, October would have been the perfect time, so it will probably be another 10 or 11 months before I start.


I read Cameron Chaney's Autumncrow. It is such a warm and cozy ode to Halloween, and I was wishing it was longer. Autumncrow is the living embodiment of all things Halloween, including the town itself which is stuck in an eternal loop of life in All Hollow's Eve. This short stories collection hits all the bullet points for the holiday: fallen, crunching leaves, candy, Trick-or-Treating, cornfields and scarecrows, et al. I plan on picking up his new book, Fresh Hell, Autumncrow High, and go through it just as quickly next season. Perhaps jealously rearing it's ugly head, I was hoping Cameron didn't turn out to be such a good writer. But he is. Not every story in Autumncrow wowed me but it is completely worthy of becoming an annual read.

Now that it is the First of November that post-Halloween depression is setting in. Luckily Christmas is only weeks away, and like it's macabre cousin I enjoy the red-and-green time of year almost as much. Almost. The lights, the music, the giving - and yes, celebrating the birth of our lord Jesus Christ - all makes this festive season a joyful succession to the feeling I get in October. With another great, fat holiday between them for fun (and to give thanks).


But last night I sat out front, jack-o'-lantern lit beside my candy bowl, and playing Pete Antell's "Stop, Look & Listen, It's Halloween" among other Halloween songs in my extensive playlist. And surprisingly, we had a lot more Trick-or-Treaters than previous years, even with the chill in the air. I hope you had a thoroughly wonderful Halloween, as well. Let's do it again next October.

One final movie of the season


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